Redd’s Review of FlashDen.net

This is a very well thought out site. From my initial glance I can see exactly what it does. This is a stock Flash site. The layout is simple and not too cluttered. My only concern is that it takes a while to load for me, and some of the images never actually make it. […]

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This is a very well thought out site. From my initial glance I can see exactly what it does. This is a stock Flash site. The layout is simple and not too cluttered.
My only concern is that it takes a while to load for me, and some of the images never actually make it.

The front page options are great. I can just start browsing around the available flash files if I want to. I can see information about files without having to register, which is a pet peeve that I have on a few other sites.

Getting Started

So it seems from the big Get Started link that the first thing I should do is, well get started.

The sign up form is very clean and straight forward. There is a nice sidebar that gives you information on what you can gain from registering. This is a nice assurance to the customer that they are doing something worthwhile by registering, and that registering will actually benefit them.

After I’ve filled everything in I’m greeted with a nice little welcome message, telling me that I need to verify my account.

I head into my email and click on the trusty little activate link.
Fail. I get a server error. If I weren’t reviewing the site, I’d be done right there.

Let’s see if I did get activated anyway. I appear to have use of my account. Let’s head on back to the homepage.

Now the site opens up to me greatly, with a completely altered front page. There is a great community sidebar open up, as well as tools that I can use, like depositing cash, updating my homepage and becoming an author.

I have to say, this site is really big. It’s hard to figure out where to get started.

Let’s investigate the section below the logo.

The Flash Files link takes me to a neat and well laid out list of flash files. There have all of the needed information, including price, size, what they open with, author and so on.

You also get the option to sort how you would like. Sorting by sales shows me the most heavily purchased file on the site, which is a $40.00 file with 1838 sales. This shows me that people do use this site both as purchasers and sellers to a good degree of success.
The option to rate the files is also a good touch. It helps people find out if one of the files happens to be a lemon.

I’m encountering a couple more broken image links here, but it’s a small percentage.

The Flash templates section has the same layout, as does the Pixel Fonts section.

Clicking on Stock Video takes me to a new site, http://videohive.net
This is another member of the Envato Network, and I’m still logged in, but this is not the site that I am here for, so I’m heading back to FlashDen.

Heading in to the next menu, I get more options to browse files. The one I’m interested in the most is the Bargain Bin option. It looks like this is a list of files that are between $1 and $3. There are two pages here, and when I click to go to Page 2 I encounter another 500 Internal Server Error. Youch.

Okay, so I have a pretty firm grasp on all that good stuff. I’m going to click on the very enticing “Make Money” link. This is always a good thing to title something.

When I click on this link I encounter a lovely “You need to be verified” message. Well crap, I tried that already and it gave me a server error. I hit the contact form to send a message regarding the issue. This form has a nice layout that I am pretty happy with. It gives me an option to look over frequently asked questions, and it tells me when people are working on customer support so that I know when I should expect a response. The drop down box that allows me to select an issue has an account verification option, so that makes me feel like my issue will get handled well and quickly.

The Forums

Moving on to the Forums. These are very clean cut and well organized. The categories are just as they should be, and the sidebar that allows you to see the newest threads is a nice touch for a regular visitor. My only criticism of that sidebar is that thy layout reminds me a Google AdSense bar. I might automatically tune it out.

Moving on to the blog, this is also well designed. The sidebar containing subscription options is on the left, which does throw me for a bit of a loop at first. This is a really really pretty blog. I love the clean simplicity of the design. It’s so uncluttered.

Going on to the About Us page, this gives us a nice little overview of the company, and shows who the core staff are. Clicking on Collis – Mr Pixel, I get some states on him, including on of the cutest Hello images ever.

There is also a contact form that will allow me to send a message to Collis, and it’s automatically filled in my email address for me, which is a huge win.

Moving on to Support, the FAQ section is extensive and well categorized. I love the top navigation.

In Summary

So overall, I am really impressed with this site. I think it’s very clean, easy to navigate, and usable. The issues that I have with it are small and I can get over them. I think FlashDen is a great resource and I give a huge thumbs up to it’s design team. It is definitely built with the user in mind!

My Suggestions

– Check into Internal Server Errors and Pictures that don’t load
– Make the Newest Thread Sidebar in the Forum look less like ads
– Add a Subscribe option on the top right of the blog

Rating 4/5 Stars

About the Author

Redd Horrocks hails from South East England. She moved to Atlanta at the age of eighteen and has enjoyed her life here ever since.
She has a degree in Communications and Media Studies and now works in Professional Theatre Administration. She is also a Freelance Writer and runs Distilled Rose, a personal finance blog. Redd also contributes to or manages four other blogs with topics ranging from Personal Finance to Vegetarian Cuisine.
Redd is actively involved in the Atlanta blogging community, and is the founder of the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup group. She also works with Andrew as his photography assistant and editor. She likes clean websites and steers away from anything overly bright.
Redd also enjoys such womanly pursuits as baking and knitting, but has an unreasonable dislike of mops.